In the Shadows
by mystic-dreamer18
Summary: **The long awaited Chapter 3 is up!** Death, loss, violence that's all Tao ever knew. After one fatal accident she was left without any where to go. But, what if she got an opportunity of a lifetime.
1. Prolouge

A/N: I made up this story when I was bored one day! Hope you like it! I won't threaten people to review or say if I don't get a certain amount of reviews that I won't continue. Just review if you want to but reviews will be greatly appreciated it if you did.  
  
Disclaimer: As much as I totally love Card Captor Sakura I will unfortunately never own it. Card Captor Sakura belongs to the creative minds of CLAMP.  
  
  
  
  
  
Before Sakura.  
  
Before Syaoran.  
  
Before Yue.  
  
Before Nakuru.  
  
Before Spinel Sun.  
  
Before Keroberous.  
  
Even before Eriol.  
  
There was Tao.  
  
Who is Tao(Ta-ow) you ask?  
  
First off Tao is basically your everyday thirteen year old girl, at that time. There are lots of things that girls would do back then that were considered perfectly normal. For example back then girls who stole from other people just to survive were an everyday kind of thing. Unfortunately Tao had to steal just to get something halfway decent to eat. In those days it was everyone for themselves.  
  
People who possessed magical powers were also considered perfectly normal. In fact you were considered a freak if didn't have powers.  
  
So what does she have to do with the Clow Cards? She has everything to do with them! In fact if it wasn't for Tao there wouldn't even be Clow Cards!  
  
So if this Tao was so important why didn't Clow Reed mention her? That is for you to find out!  
  
Her story answers a lot of questions about the Clow Cards that even Clow Reed himself doesn't know the answer to! Her story has been ignored and forgotten in the sands of time even though she was history's first cardcaptor! She was the first to face Yueh, the first to capture a card, the first friend to Clow Reed, and the first to feel the wrath of the clow cards.  
  
There are many others like her that felt the came pain.  
  
Those others have been ignored until know!  
  
A/N: This is just a prologue of the story so don't get too picky yet! I would greatly appreciate it if you would send in your questions, comments, suggestions, or even flames to me! Arigato for reading! 


	2. The End to One Life and The Start of Ano...

A/N: Thank you Sliver-moonstar and Vickietori for your nice reviews! A big arigato to you both! Anyway on with the fic!  
  
Every story has a beginning. Our story takes place not in Tomoeda, Japan but in Hong Kong, China three thousand years ago.  
  
"Come back here girl!" yelled the owner of a food stand as he ran after her at full force  
  
"Darn" complained Tao as she ran at lightning speed while still clutching on to two tomatoes "He's gotten faster! Oh well it won't matter".  
  
Tao stopped running and turned to face the man.  
  
"What the heck is she doing?" silently asked the food stand owner  
  
Tao then put a smirk on her face and then took off at lightning fast speed.  
  
"Not this again!" complained the owner of the food cart "She runs like a demon!"  
  
The man then turned around and started to head back to his cart to make sure that nobody else stole from it.  
  
Tao, who was cleverly hidden in a dark alley, looked back at the man running back to his cart. She smirked and said, "I don't run like a demon, it's you who runs slower than turtle".  
  
Tao's attention then focused on the tomatoes.  
  
"I better get these to Enlai before they start to spoil"  
  
Tao then took off again.  
  
Tao finally stopped when she reached an abandoned old house that was practically hidden in the shadows of the tall buildings surrounding it. Tao stepped inside and called out "Enlai! I brought you some food!"  
  
Then a little boy stepped out who was not a day older than seven. He had short dark brown that looked sort of messy. He stared at Tao with his big brown eyes.  
  
"Hi little bro" welcomed Tao "I got you something for your birthday!"  
  
Tao handed him a tomato. Enlai's eyes sparkled and he snatched the tomato out of Tao's hand and said with his mouth full "I can't believe it! Thanks Tao! The last time we had tomatoes was ..along time ago!"  
  
When Enali was done with his tomato he wiped the juices off of his face and asked Tao "Tao could you tell me the story of mom and dad again?!"  
  
Tao smiled and put Enlai in her lap as she started the tale "Well once upon a time there was a man who had a ship and everyday he would go out and catch a pile of fish that some people say was as high as the clouds!"  
  
"Hurry and get to the part about me!" commanded Enlai  
  
"Be patient" scolded Tao "Anyway there was also a woman who sold jewelry. There was a rumor that she even made jewelry for the emperor! One day the man met the woman at the market one day and started talking, pretty soon they realized that they loved each other! They got married at a quiet little temple. 1 year later they had a little baby girl that ."  
  
"they named Tao!" interrupted Enlai  
  
"That's right!" said Tao "Well Tao was an only child for 6 years and was getting very lonely so the man and the woman had a little baby boy named Enlai!"  
  
"Yeah!" cheered Enlai "That is my favorite part!"  
  
"Well they were a family for around two months and they were all very happy that they had each other. Then the woman got very sick and the man had to work extra hard so that they could pay all those trips to the doctor and Tao and Enlai barely got to see their father and spent all their time watching over their mom. Their father said that he heard of a plant that could cure any kind of disease. The next day he headed of to the mountains to look for the plant but he never did come back. Then that day when mother slowly died Tao promised that she would take care of Enali until their father returned but so far he hasn't returned."  
  
"Will daddy ever come back?" asked Enlai  
  
"Of course he will you just wait one day we will all live together again!" answered Tao  
  
Enlai yawned.  
  
"It looks like it's time for someone to go to bed!" said Tao  
  
"Good night Tao"  
  
"Good night Enlai"  
  
When Enlai fell fast asleep Tao stared up at the moon above and said to herself "Face it Tao dad's never coming back! But it would be nice if I could just fly up to heaven and see my mom again. I miss her!"  
  
Tao then fell asleep.  
  
But what was so special about this night is that it was the night that a new year would begin and at the stroke of twelve a.m. When the twelfth hour came a million different fireworks lit up the sky but one little firework was aimed too low and hit Tao and Enlai's house. Fires quickly grew.  
  
Tao smelled smoke and quickly got up and saw the flames. She ran to Enlai and tried to wake him up. When he wouldn't wake up after shaking him she took Enlai in her arms and jumped out the window.  
  
Villagers dumped buckets and buckets of water on the burning building. Tao stood there paralyzed on the city street watching the house that their father built burn to the ground. Tao cried silently as Enlai slept peacefully in her arms.  
  
Enlai woke up and asked "Tao what are we going to do now?"  
  
Tao looked at him and said "I don't know"  
  
The next morning the fire was out and Tao and Enlai stood were their house used to be. Tao took the house's ashes in her hands and cried not knowing what to do.  
  
"Hello there" said an unfamiliar voice.  
  
Tao turned around and saw a man that was dressed in Chinese clothes and had small glasses on the end of his nose.  
  
Tao got in front of Enlai and demanded, "Who are you?!"  
  
"I have many names: genius, brilliant, madman, and menace are just a few of them but my legal name is Clow Reed" answered Clow Reed.  
  
"I noticed that you've lost your house" continued Clow Reed  
  
"My aren't you smart!" sarcastically answered Tao  
  
"I 'm offering you a job" elaborated Clow Reed "as my apprentice and a roof over your head".  
  
"How much are thy willing to pay?" asked Tao raising an eyebrow  
  
"100 yen a day" answered Clow Reed "Your salary might increase over time"  
  
Tao thought it over '100 yen isn't that much but it's better than nothing and I have a roof over my head while I can search for a higher paying job'.  
  
Tao then said "Mr. Clow I'm willing to accept your offer!"  
  
A/N: Sounds interesting huh? Well review if you want but you don't have to. I would greatly appreciate it if you do. 


	3. The First Card

A/N: Thanks you to all who have been reviewing!!!! You don't know how much that means to me!! Sorry I haven't updated in a long time! I've been out of town and I've had writers block for forever!!!  
  
"Damn, I can't ever get it right!!!" yelled Clow Reed as he knocked down some of his spell books in frustration.  
  
"I don't understand what's wrong," mumbled Clow Reed "I...I'm doing everything right!"  
  
"Wait, could it be, only certain people can confine magic in one place?" wondered Clow Reed  
  
Clow Reed's thought were then interrupted by a familiar voice, "How can you see in this place?" asked Tao as she stumbled into the dimly lit room "It's no wonder you can't ever get that spell right, with this much light you can't see the words in the book!"  
  
"First, of all I'm not reading from a book, what I 'm working on is a whole new kind of magic!" scolded Clow Reed "And Second, I don't need advice from a stupid girl who doesn't know the first thing about magic!"  
  
Tao left the room. It had been like this for weeks. Clow would wake up early and go straight to his studies, trying to figure out what he was doing wrong with his magic. He would stay up until the middle of the night doing that same spell over and over again. He wasn't getting much sleep and it was starting to show. When Tao tried to help him he would give her that same speech on how a great magician like him didn't need help from a stupid girl who didn't know the first thing about magic.  
  
"Tao?"  
  
"Huh. What is it Enlai?"  
  
"Well you were looking so serious....By the way what is Clow-san working on?"  
  
"It's supposed to be some new kind of magic that allows him to control different elements of magic whenever he chooses," Tao explained.  
  
"Wow, no wonder he's having trouble with it" awed Enlai "It sounds complicated."  
  
"Judging by how many failure speeches I've listened to I would say the same thing" said Tao "I've heard him mumbling something about having trouble summoning the magic into..".  
  
"Into what?" earnestly asked Enlai  
  
"Cards..," answered Tao.  
  
Tao then went to the front door and swung it open.  
  
"Tao where are you going?" asked Enlai  
  
Tao looked at Enlai as the front door stood open, "To market." simply answered Tao.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"If I have to stay here and listen to more of the old man's speeches I swear I'll go mad and besides we're out of tea leaves, I thought that maybe some green tea might calm him down," explained Tao  
  
"Do you need anything Enlai?"  
  
"No, but what should I tell Clow-san if he asks where you are?" questioned Enlai  
  
Tao thought for a moment and said, "Tell him I'm going on a walk."  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ __________  
  
As Tao walked though the busy streets of Hong Kong she breathed a sigh of relief. She then started to look for the tea leaves she was looking for. When she finally found some it was from the same cart she had stole from on Enlai's birthday.  
  
"You" yelled the owner "You're that brat who stole from me!"  
  
Tao handed him 200 yen "Here, I think that covers for those tomatoes I stole."  
  
Tao put on a smile.  
  
The owner of the cart eyed her suspiciously, "What's wrong with you?"  
  
"Nothing I'm just doing a bit of shopping" assured Tao handing him 100 yen for the bag of tea leaves.  
  
As she was on her way out of the market Tao saw a fortune teller tent. Tao took out her money that was left over, "Oh why not!" replied Tao as she walked inside the dimly lit tent and sat down at the table that had a crystal ball on top.  
  
"I've been expecting you"  
  
Tao squinted her eyes and barely made out a woman with long dark hair and many bight colored robes. The woman sat down at the table and because of the light from the crystal ball Tao could see that she had lots of make up on, the thing that caught her attention first was her bright red lip stick and eye shadow. She then gently took Tao's hand and solely read the palm.  
  
"Something's about to happen to you that will determine your destiny." the fourtune teller slowly informed  
  
Tao raised an eyebrow. 'I guess these fortune tellers are just a bunch of liars after all, 'thought Tao.  
  
"Something that you will do will change the lives of many gifted magical creatures and people..."  
  
Tao rolled her eyes. She teen noticed a strong light peer through the tent; it was the light of the setting sun.  
  
Tao panicked. She frantically searched the pockets of her new robes that the "old man" gave her. She just gave the fortune teller all of her remaining money in her hurry to leave. "Keep the change!" Tao yelled out to her after she had run a ways from the tent.  
  
"Where the hell have you been!?" yelled a very angry Clow Reed, he obviously had failed again with his magic attempts.  
  
"What's the matter old man?" sarcastically asked Tao "Was that magic too hard for you?"  
  
Clow faced fumed.  
  
"I've had it with your comments!" Clow yelled.  
  
"Same here!"  
  
Tao then charged at Clow Reed with incredible speed. She took every chance she had at hurting him. She punched furiously left and right, she was blinded by her anger. She felt as if her whole body was surrounded by a powerful force that was all converting to her fist. Finally, one of her attempts hit him.hard.  
  
Tao couldn't believe what she just did; she didn't think that she would actually hit him that hard.  
  
Clow was limp on the ground. Tao walked over to him, he was just unconscious.  
  
"T-Tao.." Tao looked behind her, Enlai was standing in the doorway, crying.  
  
"How much did you see?" asked Tao, terrified of what the answer might be.  
  
"Well, in case there was a good part, all of it"  
  
Tao felt like she would rip apart. She promised her mother that she would protect Enlai.  
  
"Enlai, I .."  
  
Enlai then ran off .  
  
"Enlai, wait!" pleaded Tao.  
  
She then ran after him.  
  
Hours later...  
  
Clow finally opened his eyes. Slowly he got up. Immeadiately , a shot of pain went through out his entire body. He got back on the ground limp with pain.  
  
He then noticed something beside his feet. It was a card.  
  
Clow strained his eyes to see the writing on it. He barely made out power.  
  
His eyes widened.  
  
A/N: So was it exciting, interesting, or did it just suck?! Review if you want to, but I will greatly appreciate it. 


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